


The Hollow Man

by LadyMerlin



Series: In the Wink, a Blink of an Eye [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Drabble, F/M, Heartbreak, John Watson & Sherlock Holmes - Freeform, M/M, Sentiment, T. S. Eliot - Freeform, The Hollow Men, Unrequited Love, the end of an era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-02-10
Packaged: 2018-01-11 21:02:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1177901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMerlin/pseuds/LadyMerlin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day we’ll pass each other on the street, you and I, and you won’t recognize me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hollow Man

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've written in 221B format. It was a lot more difficult than I'd anticipated - every word hurt. The references to T. S. Eliot's 'The Hollow Men' were both intentional and not; Everyone knows the line 'this is how the world ends etc.' but I'd never known which poem it came from. The drabble with written with the line in mind but the title came later, and any references of Hollow Men within are completely unintentional (believe it or not).

One day we’ll pass each other on the street, you and I, and you won’t recognize me. That is the path we are on. You won’t recognize me, but I will recognize you as surely as you are the other half of my broken heart. I am not given to poetry or sentiment, but my entire soul will call to you from three blocks away and I will come, running, guided by the inexorable pull, only to be bumped into and brushed off as you pass by with a warm creature befitting a man of your qualities on your arm.

If I were to take off my coat and stand there in the rain, my heart would glow like an ember in the hearth, shining through the garb of my ribcage and my flesh, and I’d burn a beacon so bright, I’d burn myself. You’ll walk by me, and you won’t know I was there, and I’ll burn like an inferno until I am hollow and empty. I have known your love and companionship, and without it I am a mere shell of a human being, encasing just fleshy tinder and a flammable heart. A single, sparking glance is enough to ignite me.

You won’t even notice me. That’s how we end, dear heart, not with a whimper but a burn.


End file.
